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Anthony Martial: The French Danny Welbeck

Deadline Day MadnessThis has to be the most exciting potential deadline day since days of robinho/ berbatov. Im fully expecting Zlatan to arrive by chopper (hopefully to arsenal but probably to salford) and be the main showpiece.
7 mill for Hernandez by the way is mentally cheap, Gray went to Burnley for more!! football is at its lowest point in terms of morality, but at its peak in terms of being a soap opera, today will be fantastic!Dave, Cornwall LUFC

There’s A Lot Of This…So…..LVG is (apparently) letting a very skillful 20 year old (AJ) out on loan to Dortmund and replacing him with a 19 year old…….Hmmmm….Hmmmmm….HMMMMMRoyston Queen

Martial Arts stunk the joint out but I very much enjoyed United’s Martial Awe.Silvio (LVG stinks the joint out, too) Dante

Seriously, A LOT Of ItIf Van Gaal lets Hernandez go for Charlie Austin, If we sign Martial for 36m when we could have had Pedro for less, I will stop defending him and accept that enough is enough. He had steadied the ship. We want progress now and maybe we should let him go at the end of the season. Deji (Frustrated red devil in Toronto)

I’m sorry, you what now? Man U are going to spend 3 times the amount they spent on Christiano Ronaldo for someone possibly even less heralded that Ronaldo himself was all those years ago? I know it’s Man U’s money and they can spend it as they bloody well want to, but this kind of spending makes a mug of the whole league. The price for the rest of the league’s prospective signing from here to the foreseeable future just went up a couple of zeros…Thanks.
More than that, I’d imagine that a good chunk of the money raised to make a deal like that come directly from Man U fans’ pockets and everyone else that pays a BT and/or Sky Sports subscription, (me included, thanks to a VPN and Now TV).
Maybe it’s wrong of me to expect that sort of money to spent on either an established star/ much sought after prospect (who knows, maybe he is?), or an English man so the money stays at home. But, I’m 36 years old and I’m asking myself: is this (football) all a bit much now?Elo (Not even ‘Arry would spend like this), Arsenal, Basel.

English James Wilson, aged 19, 3 goals in 14 games – free to develop.
French Anthony Martial, aged 19, 11 goals in 49 games – £36, 000, 000.
So then Eddy baby, what’s the thinking behind this one?Jimmy (What is football coming to?) Spain

Welbeck > Martial?I watched/snoozed my way through the United v Swansea game yesterday wondering just how we’ve managed to get ourselves into a position with so few attacking options to win games. Then I read this morning that we’re going to throw another £30m at a young pacey French forward. We’re coming up on a year to the day since we pushed Danny Welbeck out of the boat to go to Arsenal for £16m. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but surely Danny Welbeck has got to be a better option than playing Fellaini upfront or taking a punt on an untried youngster from abroad?
It’s not the tactics that make United a poorer team than years gone by, it’s a lack of foresight and strategic planning by the club’s management.James

Let’s hope the French Danny Welbeck is better than the English Danny Welbeck.Dave P MUFC, Dublin

After all the rumours about Bale, Ronaldo and Neymar we end up with Anthony Martial who honestly I’ve never seen play so I should be hopeful right?
But when you look at some youtube clips he’s comes across as the French version of Welbeck (remember him?). On the other hand if Rooney is dropped from the first XI it’s worth a chance.
So much for the god damn philosophy which I don’t understand. Why have the ‘ball hoofing’ backup plan when you talk about the style of play so often? Watching the last 30 mins of the Swansea match reminded me of the famous Moyes’s era Manchester United – Fulham match where they attempted like a gazillion crosses. LVG’s bubble is about to burst soon. And I hope it does soon.
Is Jurgen Klopp still available? ?- Ruben Chawla (MUFC, India)?

United’s Window Is RuinedIn the middle of July it appeared Manchester Uniteds transfer business was going to be very successful! Darmian was a huge improvement on Valencia, our central midfield was bolstered by 2 great additions and we had signed one of Europe’s most promising talents in Depay! All that was necessary was from there was a CB and 1 or 2 attacking talents! Since then things have gone badly wrong we have let players leave without having replacements lined up & missed out on some top targets like Pedro.
Since July Woodward & Van Gaal have made many mistakes! First the David De Gea situation has been handled terribly, we knew he wanted to leave so we should have gone out and bought a top keeper, instead Romero was signed to cover him but he is nowhere near good enough as was shown against Swansea! Valdes a much better replacement has been exiled! At the time of writing it now looks as though De Geas move to Madrid has collapsed and we are left with a keeper who wants to be elsewhere and stuck with Romero as Number 1 as we miss out on Navas who still would not have been a patch on De Gea!
Second, we have let Evans & Blackett go which may leave us short if we pick up injuries, with no replacements brought in! It looks like we have missed out on all are CB targets and are now committed to Blind and Smalling, the jury is still out on this combination.
Thirdly,Van Persie, Nani, Hernandez, Januzaj, Di Maria and Falcao have been moved on leaving us very short in the attacking 3rd! While some of these departures were expected, only Depay has been brought in to fill this gap! Replacements should have been secured before these players were allowed to leave. We are now left with 2 strikers Wilson and Rooney and at a stretch Fellaini. In wide areas we only have Depay, Young, Mata and Pereira who has played very little first team games. We will have a lot of games this season which will stretch these slim attacking options and so far these options look toothless lead by an out of form Rooney.
Hernandez and Januzaj should not been allowed to leave today but both never have seemed to have been loved by Van Gaal. Sure we are set to sign Martial but he is young and untested in the premier league.
Unless there are a few surprises tomorrow we are looking at a disastrous second half to the transfer window and looking at long season. No doubt Woodward will come under fire for these failings, but Van Gaal is as much at fault and should see the tide turn against him should results and performances not improve after the international break!Ross (A Very Frustrated Man U Supporter), Cavan

Ok, I think I am officially done with van Gaal now. I’m not going to campaign for his sacking or anything but I don’t see how I, or any other United fan, can possibly be expected to put our support behind such a bizarre, stubborn and reckless manager. It has nothing to do with the Swansea game – matches are lost, that’s not a big deal – my problem with him is the way he’s running the club.
Selling Hernandez with less than 24 hours of the window remaining and no replacement yet secured is ridiculous. He’s let Januzaj go out on loan, again with no replacement secured (not even on the cards, in fact). He’s prepared to take a £36m (and rising) gamble on a 19 year old striker who hasn’t even earned his first international cap yet, but won’t pay £21m for a genuinely high quality player who has won everything there was to win (Pedro), and claims that Fellaini (an uncreative, slow non-striker) can play at number 10, yet still complains about the lack of pace and creativity in the team.
And then there’s the de Gea situation. Firstly, it’s criminal that his contract wasn’t renewed before the last 24 months were entered. Secondly, it’s appalling that his transfer to Real Madrid was not sorted before now; it should have been the first thing on the agenda when the window opened. Thirdly, if he wanted Keylor Navas so much, why wasn’t the paperwork sorted before the deadline?
He’s turned the club into more of a shambles than when Moyes was in charge, and worse still he seems even more deluded than Dave did. We seem absolutely rudderless and the squad is even more out of balance than when he took over (until yesterday we still had four senior goalkeepers and only two senior strikers – now we have 3 and 1). He’s got less than 9 hours to pull off a miracle and rescue this transfer window, but as things stand we’re about 3 injuries away from struggling to make the top 6, nevermind challenge for the title.Ted, Manchester

It Isn’t All That Bad, ActuallyI’m am one happy United fan this morning. There’s probably not many of us about.
So we’ve signed an expensive kid as striker? So what? Few of us can have much of a clue about him, but we have to assume he’s got all the ingredients to become something, and even as he is, will provide a fairly decent option. Maybe a brilliant one. From what I gather he has “explosive” pace, and well, that’s half the battle. As i wrote last week, to be competitive, we needed to sign a half decent striker, so that’s that box ticked off.
So with a day to go, what’s left? Well, definitely a centre back. As there were a few corners cut on the striker option (ie not a proven talant), there is a need to shore up the other end with a fairly serious defender. No panic, there’s the whole DAY to sort that. OK, a little panic, but if it’s going to happen, I assume a lot of the groundwork has been done already.
Something new has been added to the mix with the departure of Januzaj – personally, I think he has looked a little out of place this season, but one would assume a replacement has all but been confirmed. Hopefully a pacey chap, who doesn’t mess about too much, and who picks the right option most of the time when delivering the final ball. In a sense, that’s all that’s really required from a wide man.
As for the de Gea drama? Well, it seems the deal was slow getting processed by all parties. People will like to discuss various conspiracy theories, but the boring truth probably holds that it was just too much to get through in the end. The Spanish can be pretty good at blurring the rules for Real Madrid though, so it may not be 100% dead in the water yet. But if it doesn’t happen? So what? The net result is United have one of the world’s best keepers on their books. He’ll just have to put his head down, and keep working hard…. and then you never know what might happen in the future.
So I’m happy…. but let’s get a defender sorted today please (and a wide man if possible)!Joe Donohoe

Arsenal Not Interested In CompetingUpon clicking into your completed Summer transfer list this morning to see did I miss any late night transfers, the first thing that struck me was Arsenal Ins (Yeah I know that it is “literally” the first thing on the page).
It has just one name Peter Cech (£10m. Chelsea)
I know this has been flogged to death over the past couple of months and even the dogs on street know where Arsenal need to reinforce but this is the season where Arsenal were supposed to get back competing for the title and you know what, I and plenty of others were starting to believe it. 2 or 3 strong additions, not just squad players or youngsters with plenty of potentials would have made a huge difference.
They started off well with Cech (10-12 points and all that). One box ticked. Now just another defender & defensive midfielder that would compete with what they have and a top striker. Maybe those players are not out there, but this was the season to up the ante and take a punt. But no typically Arsenal have decided not to strengthen and now will be back battling for their beloved fourth place.
Unless they pull something off today, a lot of soul searching will need to take place at the Emirates and maybe their fans will just have to come to terms with maybe they are just not seriously interested in competing for the major titles.
I have just read the transfer gossip. If Arsenal pull off Cavani and Rabiot then I will take back everything I said. Still think it is very unlikely thoughJamie, Ireland

Hypocritical ArseneOnce again Arsenal fans go into deadline day hoping more than expecting a signing in a key area that our manager failed to address earlier in the summer. For someone who claims to hate the fact the transfer window stays open past the start of the season he does not half take advantage of the final days of the window does he? Mikel Arteta, Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck, Andre Santos, Matthieu Flamini and Per Mertersacker have all arrived in the final hours or days of past summer windows and who can forget us needing what seemed like half of February to get the Andrey Arshavin deal over the line. Wenger loves to act all cool about his squad but to me he strikes me as the sort of person who carefully packs days in advance for a holiday only to get to the airport to realise he has forgot his passport, luckily for him he left enough time to dash home and retrieve it just making it back in time for his flight. I hope tomorrow the passport is replaced with the form of a world class striker who has the last name Cavani but this season the traffic was probably unpredictable wasn’t it Arsene?Tom, afc.

De Gea IncompetenceIn full head-shaking mode this morning. The combination of chest-beating alpha-males using the transfer window to holler their masculinity is sick-making. The collapse of De Gea’s mooted transfer epitomises all that’s wrong with the game.
Breathtaking incompetence combines with posturing, brinkmanship and sheer arrogance to impact a career and leave the fans of two clubs aghast. It’s as if those who run clubs like Woodward and Perez do so for their own gratification.
We’d be better off if they donned the third sock, went into a cupboard and pulled whatever comes to hand.
Gawd, I loathe them.IanP (too p***ed off for brackets)

Woodward you genius, sending the papers one minute after the Spanish deadline, stroke of an absolute GENIUS.Soumalya (would love the Old Trafford crowd to go Woooooooodward every time De Gea takes a goal kick) MUFC

But It’s Real’s Fault…I can’t believe that some of the British press are putting United in a bad light over Monday’s twists in the De Gea saga. United’s evaluation of the player was known to all two months ago, but Re*l f*ecked up big time – they made a bid only on the final day of the window, and reportedly received a document that was password protected! Hillarious.
So De Gea stays for now, but what makes people think he will move in January? He will surely become cup tied in the CL and so will Keylor Navas for Real making the reported cash+player swap impossible.
There are also whispers that Real might be hit by a transfer ban in 2016. Dave to stay for life at United, you heard it here first.Vinay (Woodward’s password – “*fe*k off”) Nair.

It had drama. It had comedy. It had wicked twists. We still haven’t understood what exactly happened, but we can all agree it was two hours very well spent.
Probably the most entertaining transfer saga of all time.Sasank (Mad Men + Modern Family + Breaking Bad)

Apparently the De Gea move was cast into doubt because United sent files in the wrong document format. Madrid officials reported to be feverishly trying to work out how to open a .fcku attachment.Dr Mike, London

Is Van Gaal Just Lucky?Isn’t it one of the main responsibilities to keep your players motivated so they play to their potential or even exceed it. The likes of Ferguson and Mourinho were/are so good at it. Most trophy winning managers are.
Why would Manchester United not hire Mourinho because of his beliefs and controversies and get Van Gaal instead? He comes with all the drama but without the match winning ability. Having bust ups with Valdes, De Gea (not direct), Rojo(?) and not able to keep Di Maria motivated to at least play well even if he wanted to leave. Isn’t all of this too bad for the dressing room? As a professional one of the worst feelings can be when you can’t trust the person you’re working for. We’re all humans after all not robots who will blindly follow someone’s philosophy.
Was he just lucky to be in the right places at the right time? Ajax’s class of 94/95 (or whichever year it was); Barcelona when the likes of Xavi, Iniesta were breaking through; Bayern Munich with Kroos, Mueller, Schweinsteiger coming of age. I expect people to visit Wikipedia and come back with corrections on the names/era I’ve mentioned but that’s not the point. The point is that this guy is too arrogant and stubborn and is only bringing us down. Even Ferguson knew that he had to change with time and adapt to new tactics to counter the ones he had never came across. This change is equivalent to evolution – it improves you and develops you in a way so you’re a better survivor with the harsh conditions around.Ruben (MUFC, India)

And Did Stoichkov Have A Point?Are there any United fans out there who are seriously wondering maybe, just maybe, stoichkov had a point. So let me pose an important question, after spending £230 million(on a bizarre transfer policy), falling out and disposing lots of talented players, playing slow turgid football, with the same win percentage as Moyes, what’s the tipping point for LVG? At what point (of no return) will Ed, Sir Bobby and board its time to send the Iron tulip packing and send Klopp an email. What will qualify as a successful season to keep him in the job…Godled Chimere, MUFC, Nigeria(such revolving doors at Old Trafford).

It Ain’t ComplicatedHow’s this for an idea:
*Isolate potential transfer targets in the run up to the window.
*Investigate with the players clubs and agents as to whether they are open to a transfer.
*They are? Great. Now meet the fee and negotiate a package acceptable to the player. Do not f*ck about.
*Get player in during first weeks of the window so they can have a preseason with the club so as to hit the ground running when the season starts.
Anything else is basically unprofessional. Oh and anybody whining that transfers are “complex”…no, your brain is complex, star formation is complex, evolution is complex, Middle Eastern geo-politics is complex, a f**king football transfer is most definitely not.Stu, Chiswick

Okay seriously I write in every transfer windows about this. Someone needs to clarify it. Why do transfers take so long? I can understand back in the day without technology. But now there is no excuse.
You phone up and say
Hey can I have stones for 30 million ?
No
You don’t waste two months or whatever you stay on the line submitting bids.until it’s accepted or you realise it’s pointless. I’m the only reason I can think of is that the money is transferred or something but even that is ludicrous
Anyone?Francis Franchise

Can’t Stop The KloppAhhh, Brendan. You strange, strange man. As the song goes, ”The whole world loves it when you don’t get down.” And you never do. And in today’s world, that’s a credit in itself, I suppose… If you’re into that kind of thing…
It has to be said though that it hasn’t been an optimistic start to the season for Liverpool and that Brendan has set his team out with all the conviction and verve of a man looking over his shoulder. The last defeat to Stoke was one that could not be repeated under any circumstances. It was a dark nadir that he was incredibly lucky to escape and I’m sure that was made clear to him by the big suits of LFC’s Moneyball men upstairs.
These same men must be realising now how much of an absolute b**lock they have dropped by not giving Brendan the old heave-ho after last season. Man United are there for the taking, 100%. Rodgers has been backed 100%, yet again, but as said already, he’s just not up to it. And for all the optimism and positive sound bytes that inevitably get turned on their arse within twenty four hours of them falling out from in between his neon dentures, I think even the man himself is starting to doubt where exactly this is all going and how long he has left to do something about it. As the other song (kind of) goes, ”Shake the paranoia, can’t stop the Klopp.”Kevin Walsh, Luimneach

Can Stop The KloppI may have missed quotes or reports to the contrary, but the never ending calls for Jurgen Klopp to be named as a premier league manager seem very strange to me. Surely Klopp’s “year out” is just a preordained waiting period for Joachim Loew to win, or get close to winning, Euro 2016 and then retire/resign/go back to club management to prove himself leaving the national team job vacant for Klopp. Why hasn’t this been mentioned?Buyer, East Sussex

Some Love For NasriThe biggest benefactor from the deal taking Kevun De Bruyne could be any club that now manages to take Nasri away from Manchester City.
There is no club whose squad wouldn’t improve with his inclusion in it. Arsenal and Chelsea are well stocked in that position but I would have him in a heart beat at Manchester United. As much as I love Mata and Herrera, Nasri is an upgrade.
However, Nasri to Spurs makes the most sense. Being the main man/biggest signing in a club could see him really flourish.-Shehzad Ghias,mufc, karachi

Load Of PapyHi Guys,
Just one question, who the shuddering f**k is Papy Djilobodji?
Is that Paul Pogba’s real name?Cheers(Jordo, Dublin)

New United SigningWord on the street is that ol Eddie Woodward is in Johannesburg today to negotiate the 42.3 Million Pound transfer of…Me!
Money well spent lad!Manc in SA (ah, Footie is clearly back)

Poor Degsy (Again)Surprised to see degsy not mentioned in the losers column. Is Daniel afraid of him?Brian, Dublin